re: Anti-intellectualism...a dubious trait we share?

[Jamie123]

And God said....

http://www.main.com/~anns/other/humor/equation.gif7

....and there was light.

(I used to have a better version than this, with the spherical form of Maxwell's equations. Not sure what happened to that.)

[Jamie123]

And God said:

∇•B=0

∇•E=ρ

∇xB=∂E/∂t+J

∇xE=-∂B/∂t

and THEN there was light.

[pam]

Yeah..what he said.

[Jamie123]

In the beginning God said let there be light . . .

Reminds me of the old Physicists' T-shirt slogan:

And God said...

∇•B=0

∇•E=ρ

∇xB=∂E/∂t+J

∇xE=-∂B/∂t

and then there was light.

[pam]

Oh great..you delete your message after I post mine. Now it's going to look like I am just talking to myself. hahaha

[prisonchaplain]

It's okay Pam...with your maturity, you're allowed.

[Jamie123]

Oh great..you delete your message after I post mine. Now it's going to look like I am just talking to myself. hahaha

LOL - sorry Pam - I thought I'd format it a bit better and make sure I wasn't taking credit for a very old joke.

I think it's quite clever as it works on different levels: To many people it's just a piece of amusing silliness. But anyone with a degree in science or engineering will see that it's actually true.

I had a better version of it once, which had the twelve-line spherical form of the equations. Don't know what happened to that.

[prisonchaplain]

As FYI, and by way of confession, my LAUGH point was giving on the "amusing silliness" level. :-)

[Jamie123]

As FYI, and by way of confession, my LAUGH point was giving on the "amusing silliness" level. :-)

Maybe you could tell us some in-jokes about appropriation or perichoresis and see how many of us "get it"

(Confession: I picked those terms randomly from Glossary of Theological Terms.)

[prisonchaplain]

As long as we're on tangents...the sinner looked at the entryway to the Kingdom of Heaven, seeing the brightly lit neon sign: WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME! Glad to be offerd the choice, he repented and entered in. After passing through the gate, he looked back and saw the back side of the sign--in equally bright letters it said: WELCOME, CHOSEN OF GOD!

[Blackmarch]

Anti-intellectualism is a persistent strain in conservative Christianity. 120 years ago Fundamentalists opposed academic literary criticism of the Bible, Darwin's Evolution, and the general skepticism about the miraculous and supernatural aspects of Scripture. In early Pentecostalism, the same opposition formed against so-called fundamentalist intellectuals, who argued that healings, miracles, and "demonstration gifts" of the Holy Spirit ended with the death of the Apostles. And, in several recent strings, I've seen admonitions here not to rely on proofs, on history, science, etc.--but just to pray for confirmation from the Spirit.

IMHO, all truth comes from God, ultimately. Proper wisdom will ultimately lead to God, not away. My own school used the phrase "Knowledge on Fire" to describe the proper complementary relationship between the Spirit and study.

My bottom line question: The world may not always respect us, but, in general, shouldn't Christians be smart?

yess................. however I haven't seen the stupidity strain confined to christianity, at all.

I think intelligence comes from a certain amount of humility, courage, and hardworking, and a desire to seek understanding. Generally qualities that seem to be lacking in our culture as a whole.

[Traveler]

One of the arguments I have used with those that believe that the universe could evolve without intelligent intervention is the notion of creation without intelligent intervention adds nothing to the possibilities. Because given enough opportunity anything in essence could evolve then we must assume that at some point there will evolve beings capable of controlling evolution. We see genetic engineering doing this in part already. That being the case it does not matter if the universe started out without a G-d or not – all arguments of evolution lead to the evolution of beings with G-d characteristics and abilities (in the image and likeness of G-d).

In fact once evolution can be engineered that advancement towards G-d like beings will increase exponentially. But this is not intelligent design being put forward by theists.

However, there is another thought along these lines. Once intelligence evolves capable of mastering genetic engineering as well as space time displacement (time travel); then the newly evolved G-d would be able to travel back in time – perfecting the Hot Big Bang and fulfilling the creation just as stated in Genesis. Plus this answers the question of – If G-d is the creator – who created G-d. Therefore it does not matter if the universe started with or without a G-d – it will end up with G-d.

The reason I put forth these arguments is not necessarily because I believe this is what has happened but to demonstrate that there is a strong possibility for G-d in light of and based in all the arguments put forward that G-d does not exist.

The Traveler

Edited December 9, 2010 by Traveler